The Ministry of Transportation and Communications published 2021 Road Traffic Accident Statistics yesterday (the 24th). According to the statistics of national road traffic fatalities within 30 days, Taichung City has managed to reduce traffic fatalities on national roads by 47 ranking No, 1 in the country comparing with 2020. Besides, Taichung also ranked as the nation’s No.1 in decreasing the number of traffic fatalities involving motorbikes and elderly; No. 2 in decreasing the number of other drink-driving fatalities; and No. 5 in decreasing the number of accident fatalities per 100,000 people. Taichung City Government expressed that, to reduce the number of traffic fatalities, it adopted big data technology to analyze accident hot spots and study accident types and causes for high risks in order to roll out planning on accident prevention strategy. It also enforced all preventive measures from the aspects of engineering, education and enforcement, and promoted the these measures through various channels in order to protect the life and safety of the public.
The Transportation Bureau expressed that, to reduce the traffic accident rate, the city government had continuously encouraged citizens to use public transport such as MRT, buses (offered with the most discounted “double-ten bus rides” in the country) and public bicycles (the facilities have been widely established in the city to enhance citizens’ convenience and willingness to use it) to effectively lower the use of private transport. From objective data, the above measures already helped the city to reach the goal of lowering the number of traffic accidents: According to the data published by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, Taichung’s road traffic fatalities within 30 days was reduced by 47 in 2021 comparing with 2020 and such decrease puts Taichung in the Nation’s No.1 place.
To enhance the overall traffic safety and transportation efficiency, Mayor Lu Shiow-yen launched the most preferential bus policy in Taiwan “double-ten bus rides”. That is, to encourage the frequent use of public transport, citizens who use electronic ticket to get on the bus will have a free ride for 10 km and, if the ride is more than 10 km, be charged with only NT$10 at maximum. At the same time, Mayor Lu has been proactively in drawing up transfer discounts for other public transport (ex., buses, train and public bicycles) and maximizing the convenience. Currently, Taichung City already has 950 public bicycle stations, which has widely improved citizens’ willingness to transfer and further reduced the use of private transport and traffic fatalities.
The Transportation Bureau expressed that, after Mayor Lu took office, the road safety work groups and teams have been actively conducting traffic improvement works. For example, from the aspect of engineering, these units have targeted accident-prone areas to hold relevant discussions based on the types and levels of accidents; and propose improvement measures using scientific approaches, such as big data analysis and collision composition analysis, to provide pedestrians with a safe traffic environment. From the aspect of implementation, all police offices and stations have employed capacity-based traffic patrol services to enhance traffic patrol capacity. This approach placed importance equally to public order and transportation, and, together with proper enforcement and implementation of laws, allowed in-depth analysis on the causes of A1 and A2 traffic accidents that further classified major accident-prone violations into 9 groups to facilitate the implementation efficiency.
With respect to education and promotion, the City Government has integrated resources of public and private sectors to hold traffic safety promotional activities for citizens of different ages and demographic groups (e.g., elderly, young people, delivery drivers, and children); and by combining promotional activities through experience, it enhanced the promotional effects in various districts and villages with the hope that the traffic safety culture will be implemented in everyone’s daily life.
Director Yeh Chao-fu indicated that, comparing with 2020, Taichung City’s traffic fatalities dropped by 14.2% in 2021, putting the City in the nation’s No.1 place. Although the severity of accident has reduced significantly, the promotion of traffic safety can be further improved according to Director Yeh. Therefore, it is hoped that the City Government will further integrate resources of the road safety teams to build horizontal contact channels in order to roll out further planning on related measures and to achieve the goal of reducing the number of traffic fatalities.